The archived blog of the Project On Government Oversight (POGO).

Sep 25, 2008

In 2005, POGO Executive Director Danielle Brian submitted written testimony to the Senate Airland Subcommittee about the lack of management control in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) use of "other transaction authority" (OTA). At the time, she told the Senate, "The inherent problem...is that rather than the government controlling what it needs, the OTA contractors are placed in the powerful position of saying 'here’s what we will do for you.'"

Noah Shachtman at Wired's Danger Room blog reports today that DARPA has been punished by Congress for "poor execution" of earlier funds, which is to say, not spending all of their allotted funds, and essentially telling contractors, "We don’t think you will be able to do that for us." DARPA chief Tony Tether told Danger Room that he has not spent all of the available funds because he refuses to pay for projects that are not accomplishing their goals. From the blog post:

"The OSD [Office of the Secretary of Defense] comptroller apparently does not believe in accountability," Tether told DANGER ROOM in June. "They seem to believe that contractors should be funded regardless of their performance in order to make the obligations metrics look good. At least, that is the way they act."

Given these past and recent responses from Congress to what seems like an attempt at fiscal responsibility at DoD, one can't help but conclude that Congress is partly to blame for out-of-control defense spending.